Known fixing arrangements for seats in aircraft are always bound to the fixed installation on the seat rail. Furthermore, due to the rigid seat frame it is not possible to adjust the seats in longitudinal direction of the aircraft (hereinafter referred to as the x-direction) without undoing this installation. This can, for example for reasons connected with the expenditure and the time used for seat reconfiguration, result in a situation in which business class (BC) passengers have the same seat pitch as economy class (EC) passengers. On long-distance flights there is, as a rule, a large difference in the seat comfort between BC and EC. However, for short feeder flight routes the airlines also use aircraft of smaller fuselage diameter, so-called single-aisle (SA) aircraft.
Many aircraft of the SA family provide variable BC. In this arrangement a curtain affixed to a rail is slid in longitudinal direction of the aircraft and in this manner serves as a class divider. The curtain divides BC in the front part of the cabin from EC in the rear part of the cabin. Typically in BC the middle seat of an arrangement of three seats remains free, and catering is provided at a higher level than in EC. However, the seat comfort, in particular the distance to the front seat, is quasi identical to that in EC.
While in these SA aircraft the difference between BC and EC is, for example, very small, business class customers are, however, confronted with a large difference in comfort between these so-called feeder flights and the actual flight in the long-distance aircraft within the same airline. The requirement for variable class division that can be carried out directly at the gate, for example by cabin personnel, has become greater, among other things because of the aforementioned.